Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Why? You keep asserting that, but why should the author control whether or not someone writes something based on their work? One thing that I've noticed is that when someone simply keeps repeating an assertion, it's likely that it's an unexamined assertion. Is J.K. Rowling harmed by fanflic or for that matter anyone writing in the Harry Potter world?
The Flashman series was based on a character from Tom Brown's school days. In your vision of eternal copy write, that series is never written. Would society be better or worse? You can assert that the author could have just changed the name, but much of the humor is based on the history of that character. Was Thomas Hughes' (who died in 1896) spirit harmed by Fraser writing these books in 1969?
I point again to Moby Dick. Every literate person of the time period knows who Ismael is in the Bible, knows who Ahab is in the Bible. The use of those names sets a mood with the reader without having to spell it out.
You dismiss fanflic, possibly because you see no real societal purpose, but fanflic exists for a purpose. People who may not be up to writing the next great American novel, are able to exercise their creative juices by writing it. I would not be incredibly shocked if some of the better known fanfic writers have more readers than a majority of published writers. Is that bad? If so, why?
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And maybe it is because it is fun to play in another's environment. Philip Jose Farmer did just that, in some of his stories.
Jungle Rot Kid On The Nod,
Venus On The Half Shell, and others).
And when does the specific become generic? How many variants of Private Investigator stories are there. And just how different are they?
Shucks, I wrote some silly PI stories here. (Very badly written, but enjoyed by the old silly crowd that used to be here.)
So would SONY go broke if I wrote a silly story, set in the TV show TIMELESS universe? After all, they left both logical and plot line holes the size of 18 wheelers all over the place. Shucks, would they even be harmed, if it was only read by myself and a few friends?
I dislike absolutes in anything. . .